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Lily (Evans) Potter

I could do with a bit of help with my charactisation of Lily Evans. My story is set in the Seventh Year, and at the moment, I have her as almost a hybrid of Hermione and Ginny - so she's all up for a bit off fun, yet she doesn't really cross the line with the rules (but that's only because she is now Head Girl) - but she does enjoying showing her family her newfound talents.

Now, I'm trying to avoid the annoying character cliche's I continually read - such as she falls in love with James Potter within a week of returning to school in the seventh year.

But at the moment, she's a little 2-D and I want to flesh her out a bit, I was wondering what opinions you guy's could give me.

I tend to think of Lily as one of those girls who has no lines in who she makes friends with. Lily seems very open to others and I can imagine her rather talkative. She seems like she has a major beef with James (are you going into why and how in your story?) so Lily can get angry and stay angry. I hope this helped even the littest amount!

Well in my story the reason that Lily started disliking James, was because she is a kind and caring sort of person, who has no time for arrogance, so I they just got off on the wrong foot, and things kept getting worse. So that everytime she saw him, he was showing off or hexing Snape (or anyone else for that instance.)

I tend to see her as spunky, but almost cold. She doesn't let people in easily and she pushes herself to prove to everyone that she belongs there.

It seems like you're on the right track, even if you haven't worked out the details. Jo has said that Lily was very popular and something like Ginny, so you've got that bit right. What you have to do is figure out some of her flaws, so she doesn't end up staying 2D. A happy, perky, brilliant and beautiful Lily has been written loads of times.

I know some flaws that have been suggested for her are pride, arrogance, the ability to hold a grudge, stubborness. I think you could work with these a bit. We know she's a Muggleborn, and with times being what they were then, she probably took a lot of crap for it early on. This could have pushed her to become the brilliant student (good for sure at Charms and Potions--it's a good idea to make her have a little trouble with a subject as well, she can't be good at everything), and given her a bit of a tough shell. Being popular and well-liked doesn't mean you trust easily. She could then come off as being a bit proud herself.

In resisting James, we see her stubborness. It might not be canon that he asker her out every day of her life (!), but it's likely he did it frequently, and she never caved. You should probably give a reason. Just his immaturity? Or did she feel threatened by his purebloodness? Perhaps her grudge-holding could come into play here as well. Maybe he...insulted her once, or didn't stand up for her once, and she can't forgive him for it.

Another popular theory is that she was friends with Snape and then, after his worst memory in their fifth year, kind of gave up on him. That could have been something else which added to her...toughness. That she let him in and then he betrayed her. This incident also shows that she has the Gryffindor nobility. She stood up for the Slytherin that no one liked, rather than siding with the people of her own house.

I'm sad.
It always seems like my take on the books is different from everyone else's. I've always thought of Lily as something of a loner, a bit of a teacher's pet. Maybe not exactly a loner, but not overly popular and spunky. Independent and smart, and cheeky, but never overly. It just depends on your take on the books. For some reason, Lily never seemed like someone with an overly large amount of friends. I'll go and rerereread OotP now.

I kinda see Lily as Ginny with Hermione's popularity. Like, she's firey and beautiful, but only has a small circle of friends (probably because of her temper). She's also a little intellegent, and, of course, good at Potions (the books never say she herself is good at Charms, only her wand's good for them)

I've always thought of Lily as something of a loner, a bit of a teacher's pet. Maybe not exactly a loner, but not overly popular and spunky. Independent and smart, and cheeky, but never overly. It just depends on your take on the books. For some reason, Lily never seemed like someone with an overly large amount of friends. I'll go and rerereread OotP now.

That surprises me because I've always seem Lily as strong, a little cold at times and maybe even sarcastic when irritated but definately witty and fairly popular. It's perfectly fine to have your own views on the books, especially about characters - I mean, look at the movies. I wouldn't have cast half the actors and they seem to be developing as characters differently from the books. The Ginny I see in Lily is how popular with the lads, but I suspect Lils was more of a too-good-for-you kind of girl, although maybe just to James. And yeah, I never thought she was incredibly cheeky. She didn't go out of her way to make witty comments.

Acroma, I think she wasvery intelligent, and (I may be making assumptions here, but I do think it was implied this way) if her wand was good for Charms she was an able Charms student. And I see her the other way around: Hermione with Ginny's popularity. That being said, Lily was very much an individual; I don't think she's liking being labelled here, lol.

Also, with OotP, she was part of that big group of girls down by the lake. Not many people take that scene into consideration; the James/Lily fics I read usually pair her up with only two or three girls.

I hope I've been of some help, I know wishiwereaweasley especially had some excellent points. Good luck writing, and don't be afraid to write your "take on the books".

5 points to Gryffindor [especially for notably paying attention to previous posts in the discussion]

Slughorn also said she was "cheeky". So I imagine her intelligent, cheeky, very stubborn, quick to answer, defiant...

Stubby Boardman stated an interesting fact, which I think you should take into consideration.

Also, with OotP, she was part of that big group of girls down by the lake. Not many people take that scene into consideration; the James/Lily fics I read usually pair her up with only two or three girls.

I believe she was fairly popular, too. Having two or three girls as friends is getting very chliched. You might want to take a different approach.

I've always seem Lily as strong, a little cold at times and maybe even sarcastic when irritated but definately witty and fairly popular

That pretty much sums it up. Because she is strong, I've a feeling that Lily's the sort of person who's friends with everyone and who doesn't go by group identities. She could stand up for downtrodden people (I don't mean just Snape, because of James) or at least tell them to do it for themselves. She could be kind to lonely, shy people and take them under her wing. She seems compassionate to me, and I think she doesn't stand watching when people physically hurt any other living thing.

Now, from what I've said here, she just seems like a Mary-Sue doesn't she? Another Hermione, with EVERYone's character put together? What ARE her bad qualities?Cheekiness? Naw... Her temper? I don't believe I've read anywhere that she was hot-tempered...

Okay, well I am writing my own story, and I have found that from what I can gather from the books, she is similar to me.

I am a very happy, yet firey, open, fun loving person to a certain point. I have never gotten a dentention or anything remotley like that.

I would say when it comes to boys, Lily is very cautious. She doesn't like sleazy, arrogant, pathetic and immature guys and would rather date someone along the lines of Moony (until she sees James' sweet side) and likes to keep to herself.

She is kind, courageous and fiery person and never lets her guard down. She seems like a family oreintated person and knows what she wants in life.